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In 2009, eight Americans
embarked on a year-long Beyond Boundaries (BB) pilgrimage that in some unique
ways has never ended. We were an
intergenerational group, travelling together to bear witness, to learn, to offer
ourselves in service to centers of regenerative culture around the world, to
the transformative work being done, living into the questions of our times.

With the leadership of Gigi
Coyle, and our growing intergenerational team (now 15), we continue to listen
for new expressions of Beyond Boundaries. Together we are a kind of response
team for our times, responding to invitations and calls for support from a
growing global community of highly committed people and places. These are
opportunities to build alliances beyond boundaries, beyond culture, beyond our
personal and organizational borders, alliances that foster intergenerational,
cross-cultural collaboration in care for people, place and planet.

As Beyond Boundarians, we
raise funds and receive gifts to be able to offer our time and energy to these
people and places, in service and support of both longtime stewards and modern
day pioneers. In this way, we water the best seeds we find and the “watering
holes” that attract those committed to change. When asked to do so, when we
feel deeply they will serve, we offer our gifts, our experience, and best
practices gleaned from years of community stewardship: council, quest, rites of
passage, and bearing witness. We are small, allowing at first, perhaps, for a
tiny impact, and then like an acupuncture point, we see effects rippling out,
contributing to and leaving behind a healthier cell within the body.

We continue as students
ourselves ready to learn from each community and situation we meet. In 2012, we
responded to calls from Tamera (Portugal), Findhorn (Scotland), International
Peace Initiatives (Kenya), and Grandmother Margaret Behan of the International
Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers (Montana).

In 2013 and into 2014, we
helped in the realization of the New Story Summit (Findhorn), The Bioneers
Conference, the Tamera community’s Water Summit and Global Love School, the
dreaming of a new Walking Water pilgrimage, which will begin September, 2015 in
California, down through the Owens Valley to LA, the continued building of
earth lodges and peace huts in Kenya, trainings in Council and Rites of
Passage, an annual quest for activists, environmental leaders, and change
agents, and consulting the development of a new youth program in Greece called
SOAR … School for All Relations.Each of
these collaborations has born fruit and the work continues into 2015. (More
detailed reports and proposals are available.)

Beyond Boundaries is blessed
to be carried as a project under the fiscal sponsorship of the Biosphere
Foundation. We see Beyond Boundaries not as an organization, but rather as an
organizing principal. That means, on some level, anyone can join in to the work
that lies ahead.

Contact
gigicoyle1@gmail.com for more information.

. . .

To learn more about how Beyond Boundaries began and the intentions for the pilgrimage in 2009 - 2010, read on.

The Journey

Beyond Boundaries is committed to experiential education, cross-cultural community exchange, leadership development and a deep personal and collective inquiry into the pressing issues and needs of our times. The pilgrimage moved through a number of places, centers and communities in the United States, Europe, Asia and Oceania that are exploring the frontiers of creative, peaceful, and regenerative life. Participants listened and learned from the people and places visited, offered their support and service work of many kinds along with their own gifts and experience. Together, they have brought home valuable information, perspectives and new gifts to share with their people

The Inspiration

In 1980, Gigi Coyle, team leader and visionary behind Beyond Boundaries, was inspired to embark on a year-long walkabout, traveling to projects and communities in the U.S. researching what were then considered ‘alternative’ systems, meeting and learning with
individuals and groups committed to sustainable living practices and the
healing of self, others, and the planet. This journey seeded Gigi’s life work including projects in international citizen diplomacy,
council leadership and training and working as a vision quest guide and trainer
for the Ojai Foundation and School of Lost Borders. Today, Gigi is called to pilgrimage again, to connect many
of the people and places pioneering alternative design systems that can offer
us viable choices as we go forward as a global community. Based on years of accumulated relationships
with individuals and organizations all over the globe, Gigi developed
Beyond Boundaries, inviting a small intergenerational group to
join her on this international pilgrimage

If you're interested in a copy of the report feel free to contact us at gigicoyle@earthlink.net

With deep gratitude,

The Beyond Boundaries Team, "The BB8"

. . .

Beyond Boundaries is a project of the Biosphere Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit.